At a 2007 performance of inter-disciplinary artist Susan Lee-Chun, 600 people swarmed the space. And last year, the artist inspired 18 Baltimore residents to don gold workouts suits and march down a Maryland street as "Suz-ercisers." The idea of rituals is central to Korea-born, Chicago-raised Lee-Chun, whose art examines the murky waters of identity politics. She performs and constructs the clothing and environments of a trio of alter egos, collectively referred to as The Suz: It's Faux Real!.

Façade-The Figurative Kind: Installation & Performance

Courtesy of David Castillo Gallery

Her thoughtful textile-based installations, where issues of assimilation take a tangible form, inspired us to give Lee-Chun one of

our first ever MasterMind genius grants. As she explains, "The art is

about deception. About us being able to integrate ourselves into a space

"C'mon Baltimore, Let's Suz-ercise!" happened over the summer in Baltimore, MD in collaboration with Maryland Art Place. Eighteen amazing people from the Baltimore-area were recruited and learned a routine influenced by military and marching band routines. The routine was all choreographed by Miami's dancing extraordinaire Gio Profera. A part of this project was to have the recruits learn how to "Suz-ercise" via online exercise videos that I created. In June, they all donned custom made black and gold futuristic workout gear and performed the faux workout routine in Baltimore's Downtown harbor area.

This specific performance was produced and filmed so it could be used as a part of a larger multimedia project titled "Everybody Suz-ercise!," which is work in progress. Last year's Miami New Times Mastermind Award was applied to help produce this project! Thanks Miami New Times!

C'mon Baltimore, Let's Suz-ercise!

Courtesy of David Castillo Gallery

3. What's your next big project?

Not sure what the next "big" project will be, but I am currently working on a few new sculptures in the studio, and filming a series of short videos based on cooking shows for a performance-based exhibition in Berlin. Other projects include producing limited edition art objects for the Bass Museum and Girl's Club Collection in Fort Lauderdale.

4. Why do you do what you do?

I love turning what's in my mind into something real.

5. What's something you want Miami to know about you?

I've always loved cooking and baking. So, I started an online specialty pastry company called Yummy ChunBuns!. The sweet pastries are inspired by the famous cream-filled yellow sponge cake and the whoopie pie. And, since it shouldn't be all about sweets, we've got savory flavors, too. Oh, and I love, love hula hooping.

What's something you don't want Miami to know about you?

I love watching soap operas (for some reason I find this to be an embarrassing habit of mine, ha ha!). Same goes for Korean dramas found on the internet. So good!